Hello people,
Hopefully, if everything goes as planned, i am getting my first clio this next week. I've got my eyes set on a Ph1 172 -01 that a local dealer has. However since i've never bought a car before i have about a million questions. Most of them i have found answers for right here on the forums or other places but i still would like to get som opinions before spending my next 6 months pay so to speak
Now i really like the Mk2 Ph1 but the 'regular' ones (up to the 1.6 engine) around here are about £1700 while the 172 i've been oogling has an asking price of just under £3000. This is around £6-700 over my initial budget for a first car, but i've really gotten a craving for a 172. The one i found has just under 130k on the meter, is unmodified and looks like it's in really good condition except for som wear on the leather seats (Picture below).
I ordered a carfax report on it which was clean and had the traffic department mail me the last 3 years MOT tests and there seems to be no bigger issues (front right linkage had some play in it one year and broken brake-disks another are the biggest ones, but also the history says it was re-tested within 2 months on both occations and came out with no faults, so those are fixed). It has also just been through this years MOT with no problems.
Now my concern is that if i go through the classifieds i can find 172's in similar condition (according to seller and pictures), but with either less milage or a lower price (or both). The downside is that those are private sellers and they all have something setting of warning bells in my head (one has only 60k, but is 'missing some service-stamps'. Another is pimped out and is being sold by a 22 year old so im guessing it's pretty abused). Also buying from a dealer here in sweden gets you stuff like an automatic 6 months warranty for everything except driver screw-ups, both summer+winter tyres incl rims. also they are not allowed to withhold information that may be of interest meaning that if i buy it and it turnes out the seller didn't tell you about stuff that was not up to spec, you can get a refund or compensation and such. It's a hassle since the dealers don't want to do it, but by law it's there.
So my question is basically: Assuming that it's in good condition and serviced properly, would you guys say that having the safety of buying from a dealer is worth an extra 20-25% on the asking price? Also, whould the milage pose any problems like stuff tending to break at higher milage? Any help and/or tips would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Hopefully, if everything goes as planned, i am getting my first clio this next week. I've got my eyes set on a Ph1 172 -01 that a local dealer has. However since i've never bought a car before i have about a million questions. Most of them i have found answers for right here on the forums or other places but i still would like to get som opinions before spending my next 6 months pay so to speak
Now i really like the Mk2 Ph1 but the 'regular' ones (up to the 1.6 engine) around here are about £1700 while the 172 i've been oogling has an asking price of just under £3000. This is around £6-700 over my initial budget for a first car, but i've really gotten a craving for a 172. The one i found has just under 130k on the meter, is unmodified and looks like it's in really good condition except for som wear on the leather seats (Picture below).
I ordered a carfax report on it which was clean and had the traffic department mail me the last 3 years MOT tests and there seems to be no bigger issues (front right linkage had some play in it one year and broken brake-disks another are the biggest ones, but also the history says it was re-tested within 2 months on both occations and came out with no faults, so those are fixed). It has also just been through this years MOT with no problems.
Now my concern is that if i go through the classifieds i can find 172's in similar condition (according to seller and pictures), but with either less milage or a lower price (or both). The downside is that those are private sellers and they all have something setting of warning bells in my head (one has only 60k, but is 'missing some service-stamps'. Another is pimped out and is being sold by a 22 year old so im guessing it's pretty abused). Also buying from a dealer here in sweden gets you stuff like an automatic 6 months warranty for everything except driver screw-ups, both summer+winter tyres incl rims. also they are not allowed to withhold information that may be of interest meaning that if i buy it and it turnes out the seller didn't tell you about stuff that was not up to spec, you can get a refund or compensation and such. It's a hassle since the dealers don't want to do it, but by law it's there.
So my question is basically: Assuming that it's in good condition and serviced properly, would you guys say that having the safety of buying from a dealer is worth an extra 20-25% on the asking price? Also, whould the milage pose any problems like stuff tending to break at higher milage? Any help and/or tips would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
